"It's like being in a sand blaster, you know?" said Hampton Beach resident Kevin Glover. "It gets in your eyes and your face, and it's plugging the drains. We had to park our cars across the street."

The sand drifted across Ocean Boulevard. Glover said it was even getting blown in through his home's closed windows.

"We just moved in not too long ago, but we're from this area and this is the worst we've seen it," he said. "Irene, that wasn't nearly as bad as this."

As the storm makes its way inland, there will be at least some cleanup to do on the Seacoast. The wind took down a fence between condominiums near the seawall, where residents said Sandy had them feeling surrounded.

"I've never seen the wind this bad," said Frank Gacek, of Pelham. "You got the tunnel here, it took the fence down, and then the marsh comes up from the other end at the same time."

Residents said they were anxious for midnight, when the storm will team with a high tide.

"We've been here since about 6:30, and the waves -- now they're starting to come in one by one, and they're starting to get bigger," said Angelina Fourner, of Manchester. "You can tell high tide's starting to come in."

Safety officials urged residents to avoid the area along the beach because of the severe weather conditions.